Means and methods to assist people in building up an aversion to undesirable habits

ABSTRACT

Methods and means for assisting persons in breaking undesirable habits include means for projecting first and second images onto a screen. The first image is a fixation image to induce a person to concentrate in a small limited area. The second image relates to an object or message relating to the habits to be broken. Various additional sensory messages, such as electrical or audio signals, are communicated to the person while one or both of the images are being projected on the screen.

United States Patent 1191 Symmes Jan. 1, 1974 MEANS AND METHODS TOASSIST 3,205,316 9/1965 Hechler 128/1 c ux PEOPLE IN BUILDING p ANAVERSION 1,550,497 8/1925 Bray et al 272/27 R T0 UNDESIRABLE HABITSFOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATIONS [75] Inventor: Eliot N. Symmes, SanFrancisco, 1,557,773 1/1969 France 35/22 R Calif.

- Prima Examiner-Wm. H. Grieb A 1 c1 1 s .I [73] Assignee cgiiefr canlnic, nc an ose Atwmey Edward M Farrell [22] Filed: May 26, 1972 [57]ABSTRACT [2]] Appl' 254786 Methods and means for assisting persons inbreaking undesirable habits include means for projecting first [52][1.8. CI 35/22 R and Second images onto a Screen The first image is a 51Im. c1. 60% 19/00 fixation image to induce a Person to concentrate in a[58] Field of Search 35/22 R, 21, 1; small limited area- The secondimage relates to an 128/] C, 419 S; 272/10, 18, 8 R, 27 R; 273/] ject ormessage relating to the habits to be broken. E Various additionalsensory messages, such as electrical or audio signals, are communicatedto the person 56] Refe en e Ci d while one or both of the images arebeing projected on UNITED STATES PATENTS the Screen- 3,014,477 12/196110 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Carlin 128/] C PROJECTOR I REMOTE CONTROL oa o 46 48 PATENTEUJAN H914 3,782,006

SHORTER LIFE 1 MEANS AND METHODS TO ASSIST PEOPLE IN BUILDING UP ANAVE'RSION TO UNDESIRABLE HABITS It is well known that a person maydevelope undesirable habits which may adversely affect his health, stateof mind or general well being. These habits generally originate fromenvironmental conditions experienced during youth, the persons familylife, his working conditions or from the many tensions resulting frompressures in a modern day society to which the person is exposed.

After an undesirable habit has been developed, it is very difficult forthe average person to break it. This is especially true in cases wherethe habit has persisted over a number of years. Realization by theperson involved that the habit may be detrimental to his health andgeneral well being is often not sufficient to enable a person to breakthe habit.

Some of the habits developed by many people in our society involvesmoking, over-eating, consumption of drugs and other habits which tendto cause physical and mental problems, which, in addition to causinggeneral unhappiness, often lead to shorter life spans.

lt is known that psychology and hypnotism, among other techniques, havebeen employed to assist persons to build up adversions to undesirablehabits. In order to adequately treat different types of persons fordifferent habits, different approaches must be employed by thepsychologist, hypnotist or other trained personnel performing thetreatments. it is often necessary to implement the words or suggestionsof the individual administering the treatments with additionalmanifestations or suggestions from other sources.

It is known that, if a person starts to associate his habit with someunpleasant occurrence or experience, he will often associate the habitwith the unpleasantness and buildup an aversion to the habit.

While the words of the individual performing the treatment often carry acertain amount of persuasion to assist the person being treated to buildup an aversion to a habit, it is desirable to supplement the words ofthe psychologist or hypnotist with additional manifestations. To achievemaximum results it is desirable to associate a maximum amount ofunpleasantness with the habit to be broken in order to develope anaversion to the habit in a minimum amount of treatment time.

It is recognized that human beings experience and gain knowledge throughall their senses, i.e., by seeing, hearing and feeling, for example.ldeally, if more than one or all of a persons senses could be used toreceive messages which would associate unpleasantness towards aparticular habit, the time taken to build up an aversion to that habitwould be minimized.

it is an object of this invention to provide novel methods and means fortreating a person to assist him in averting certain habits.

It is a further object of this invention to provide novel methods andmeans to assist persons to change undesirable habits, where the habitsmay involve a wide variety of different forms.

it is still a further object of this invention to provide novel methodsand apparatus for treating persons to assist them in overcoming badhabits, in which the types of treatment available are widely variable toaccommodate a wide variety of different people with different habits tobe cured.

In accordance with the present invention, apparatus for assisting aperson to build up an aversion to an undesirable habit includes visualdisplays for focusing his attention on a small area of a screen and thendisplaying a picture of an object or message relating to the habit onthe screen. Additional means selectively provide audio signals,electrical shock signals, and/or other sensory messages to accompany thevisual displays.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentto those skilled in the art, from a reading of the followingspecification and claims, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing,in which:

FIG. 1 is a view, partly in block diagram form, illustrating a systemfor assisting a person to build up aversions to bad habits, inaccordance with the present invention, and

FIG. 2 illustrates a slide for a projector which may be employed in thepresent invention.

Referring to the drawing, FIG. 1 illustrates an overall arrangement fortreating a person and assisting him in building up an aversion to anundesirable habit. A pair of projectors 10 and 12 is disposed to projectimages onto a screen 14. FIG. 2 illustrates a series of images which maybe projected onto a screen 14 by the projectors l0 and 12.

In treating a person 16 seated in a seat 18, a psychologist or othertrained individual may go through a preliminary routine to put theperson at ease. The individual giving the treatment then attempts to getthe person to focus his attention on a relatively small area on thescreen 14. While concentrating on the small area, the person tends tofree his mind of extraneous thoughts. The projector 12 is used toproject a relatively small image, illustrated in the form of smallcircles 20 or Xs 21 on a slide 22.

When the person is concentrating his attention on a relatively smallcircle 20 or X 21 projected onto the screen 14, the person being treatedmay be subjected to other induced sensory manifestations, as will bedescribed.

When the person is concentrating his attention on the relatively smallprojected image on the screen, the projector 10 projects a second imageonto the screen 14. The second image is associated with the habit forwhich the person is being treated. The second image may involve a numberof different images sequentially presented as by a slide projector.

in H6. 2 the slide 22 includes a number of different objects ormessages. The particular slide 22 illustrated is used in connection withthe habit of overeating. The various images are sequentially projectedto induce a person to properly diet by building up an aversion to eatingcertain types of foods, notably calory rich desserts. Similar typeslides to the slide 22 may be used in connection with building upaversions to smoking, drugs or other undesirable habits. ln these cases,different images and messages would of course be included on the slides.

In FIG. 2, the circles 20 and Xs 21 are illustrated to indicate how theyare continuously projected along with the second image as the slide 22is moved from frame to frame. In actual practice, the circles 20 and Xs21 would not actually be on the slide but rather super-imposed on theimages or messages projected on the screen 14. The first images from theprojector 12 are shown on the slide 22 merely for purposes ofexplanation.

The first frame 24 on the slide 22 includes the word WARNING. This wordor message alerts the person 16 and generally connotes somethingunpleasant. The next frame 26 illustrates a piece of pie, probably afood which the person enjoys eating. The next frame 28 illustrates theword GREASE.- Immediately following the picture of the pie, the personbeing treated relates the word GREASE to the pie. Thus, an unpleasantconnotation is associated with pie.

The next frame 30 includes the word REDUCE." All the time that the slideis being moved from frame to frame, the person being treated has hisattention focused on the circle 20, which is super-imposed on a messageor illustration.

After the word REDUCE," the frames 32 and 34 are sequentially projectedto display the words DO IT and NOW, respectively. The image X is used inthis frame and the subsequent frames. Following the frame 34, the frame36 includes the word NOW again, this time in larger letters than thosedisplayed by the frame 34. The enlarged letters emphasize that theperson cannot procrastinate but must start to diet immediately.

The frame 38 illustrates a cookie with a superimposed X" fixation point21. Next, the frame 40 il lustrates an ice cream cone with the word STOPsuper-imposed thereon. Finally, the frame 42 shows the word SHORTERLIFE.

The messages and food items are sequentially projected onto the screen14 in such a manner that the person being treated tends to build up anaversion to certain foods because they will result in shorter life. Toavoid this unpleasant result, the person will naturally think of thegood effects of a proper diet, which means longer life.

The projected images on the screen 14 are directed towards the visualsenses of the person being treated. However, for maximum results in aminimum amount of treatment time, the present invention stimulatesadditional senses of the person being treated. The stimulation of one ormore senses preferably are done simultaneously with the projections ofthe images on the screen 14.

Additional apparatus for producing signals to stimulate additionalsenses of the person 16 include a tape recorder 44, a tone generatorunit 46 and an electrical shock inducer unit 48.

The tape recorder 44 may include a hypnotic induction tape fortransmitting a message through a line 50 to a pair of earphones worn bythe person being treated. Only one earphone 52 is illustrated. Themessage transmitted to the person from the tape of the tape recorder maycause the person to go into a hypnotic or semi-hypnotic state at thesame time that he is viewing the images on the screen 14. The hypnosistreatment by a recording may be implemented by the psychologist orindividual giving the treatment by speaking into a microphone 54, withthe audio output from the microphone being transmitted to the earphonesworn by the person being treated.

The tone generator 46 produces an audio signal which is transmitted tothe earphones 52. This may be a continuous audio signal, variable from100 to several thousand cycles. The signal may be modulated orunmodulated. The audio signal may be selectively applied at differenttimes during the treatment. The tone generated may be manuallycontrolled by a remote control switch unit 47. This unit 47 isselectively operated by the individual giving the treatment.

The shock inducing unit 48 is used to selectively apply electrical shocksignals through a line 55 to a pair of electrodes 56 worn by the personbeing treated. A remote control unit 58, which may be manually operatedby the individual giving the treatment to close a circuit to produceshock signals. The electrical signals involve relatively low voltages,generally variable under 10 volts. The amplitudes are not high enough toinjure the person being treated. At the same time, they are high enoughto cause discomfort and unpleasantness.

It is understood that electrical lines illustrated include return leadsto provide complete circuits and returns to a common reference point orground.

It is seen that utilizing the apparatus of the present invention, aperson may be treated by simultaneously effecting a number of hissenses. The projectors l0 and 12 along with the screen 14 stimulate thevisual senses. At the same time, the tape recorder 44 and the microphone54 provide means for transmitting messages which may be received by thesubconscious mind of the person being treated. The selective applicationof a tone from the tone generator 46 is communicated to the aural sensesof the person being treated. The shock signals from the source 48 arecommunicated to the sense of feeling of the person being treated. Thecomposite effect of signals applied to a number of different senses froma plurality of sources makes it possible to assist persons in buildingup aversions to undesirable habits more effectively and in a shorterperiod of treatment time.

While the habit of over-eating has been described in connection with thepresent invention, it is apparent that the invention is applicable to awide variety of different habits, such as smoking, taking drugs andother habits which tend to adversely affect a persons physical, mentaland emotional well being. The projected images on the slides, themessages on the tape recorder, the frequency and selection of the use oftones and shock treatments may all be varied in accordance with thehabit towards which an aversion is to be built up.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for clinically treating a person to assist him in avertinga habit comprising means for displaying images projected thereon, firstmeans for projecting a first stationary image on said means fordisplaying to provide a relatively small fixation area, second means forprojecting a second stationary image superimposed over said first imageon said means for displaying, said second image being associated with anobject or message relating to said habit, a source of signals capable ofaffecting the senses of said person, means for selectively operatingsaid source of signals independently of the operations of said first andsecond means for projecting, and means for selectively coupling saidsignals to the senses of said person being treated simultaneously withthe projections of said first and second images.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person comprises a recorder forgenerating an audible message to said person, said message being capableof inducing a hypnotic state in said person.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person further comprises amicrophone to permit an individual administering treatment tocommunicate with said person.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person comprises means forselectively generating and transmitting electrical shock signals to saidperson.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person comprises means forgenerating and transmitting tone signals to said person.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person further comprises meansfor selectively generating and transmitting electrical shock signals tosaid person.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person further comprises meansfor generating and transmitting tone signals to said person.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person further comprises meansfor generating and transmitting tone signals to said person.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second means forprojecting comprises a slide including a plurality of frames thereondepicting pictures and messages relating to said habit, said framesbeing sequentially displayed on said means for display.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said first means forprojecting includes means for continuously displaying said smallfixation area when said plurality of frames is sequentially displayed.

1. Apparatus for clinically treating a person to assist him in avertinga habit comprising means for displaying images projected thereon, firstmeans for projecting a first stationary image on said means fordisplaying to provide a relatively small fixation area, second means forprojecting a second stationary image superimposed over said first imageon said means for displaying, said second image being associated with anobject or message relating to said habit, a source of signals capable ofaffecting the senses of said person, means for selectively operatingsaid source of signals independently of the operations of said first andsecond means for projecting, and means for selectively coupling saidsignals to the senses of said person being treated simultaneously withthe projections of said first and second images.
 2. Apparatus as setforth in claim 1, wherein said source of signals capable of affectingthe senses of said person comprises a recorder for generating an audiblemessage to said person, said message being capable of inducing ahypnotic state in said person.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2,wherein said source of signals capable of affecting the senses of saidperson further comprises a microphone to permit an individualadministering treatment to communicate with said person.
 4. Apparatus asset forth in claim 1, wherein said source of signals capable ofaffecting the senses of said person comprises means for selectivelygenerating and transmitting electrical shock signals to said person. 5.Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person comprises means forgenerating and transmitting tone signals to said person.
 6. Apparatus asset forth in claim 2, wherein said source of signals capable ofaffecting the senses of said person further comprises means forselectively generating and transmitting electrical shock signals to saidperson.
 7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said source ofsignals capable of affecting the senses of said person further comprisesmeans for generating and transmitting tone signals to said person. 8.Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said source of signalscapable of affecting the senses of said person further comprises meansfor generating and transmitting tone signals to said person. 9.Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second means forprojecting comprises a slide including a plurality of frames thereondepicting pictures and messages relating to said habit, said framesbeing sequentially dIsplayed on said means for display.
 10. Apparatus asset forth in claim 9, wherein said first means for projecting includesmeans for continuously displaying said small fixation area when saidplurality of frames is sequentially displayed.